made in china
Active Member
I recently purchased a new Pioneer PD-F1009 301 disc changer with the intention of using an external DAC. My goal is to avoid using my current way of playing my music, MP3, and get back to using more traditional, better sounding ways of playing digital music. I have a dilemma however. I can not find an external DAC that makes me very "happy" (by specs). Most I have seen are Asian made (indifferent), highly rated by users (nice), but don't tout a "Burr Brown" chip (stuck on Burr Brown for some reason!). Also, I am somewhat dubious of a Chinese manufacturer's claims of using the "best" components, China is probably more capable of making fake items than they are of making good, "real" items (I said prob, I heard good things about their DACs).
Which has led me to: Either go ahead and buy a ZERO DAC, Zhaolu DAC or Keces DAC off of eBay. OR, I have considered building my own DAC using a Burr-Brown chip. Has anyone here attempted to build there own DAC? I was thinking of going all-out and building one that utilized internal battery power for cleanest DC. I have no problems getting multilayer PCBs manufactured, and I am quite capable of doing PCB layout. HOWEVER, it would help me greatly if anyone has any experience on this as it would be my first attempt at high end audio. I'd really like to just use a known good circuit design and layout and build my own PCB.
Which has led me to: Either go ahead and buy a ZERO DAC, Zhaolu DAC or Keces DAC off of eBay. OR, I have considered building my own DAC using a Burr-Brown chip. Has anyone here attempted to build there own DAC? I was thinking of going all-out and building one that utilized internal battery power for cleanest DC. I have no problems getting multilayer PCBs manufactured, and I am quite capable of doing PCB layout. HOWEVER, it would help me greatly if anyone has any experience on this as it would be my first attempt at high end audio. I'd really like to just use a known good circuit design and layout and build my own PCB.